DEHRADUN: A man who claimed to have reunited with two different families in Dehradun and Ghaziabad as their ‘long-lost’ son is now being investigated by police who are trying to ascertain how he accessed personal details of both families. The revelation that it was the same man in both cases emerged after TOI verified photographs of the two reunions and found him to be the same person.
The man, whose true identity is yet to be established, initially ‘reunited’ with a family in Dehradun in July, claiming to be Monu Sharma, who had been abducted 16 years ago by unidentified people who took him to a remote area of Rajasthan when he was nine years old. Last Saturday, he narrated a similar story while ‘reuniting’ with another family in Ghaziabad, saying he was Bhim Singh, who had been kidnapped 31 years ago. He was detained by Ghaziabad police late on Saturday evening for questioning.
Meanwhile, Dehradun police, contacted by the Ghaziabad police after the revelation, have also initiated their own investigation. Inspector Pradeep Pant, in-charge of Dehradun police’s anti-human trafficking unit, who had helped him reunite with his ‘Dehradun family’ in July, said, “It seems he has some psychological issues. So far, it does not appear that he duped the Dehradun family of money or valuables. But it seems that he has one specific story in his mind about his abduction when he was a child, which he narrates every time he gets lost in a new city. However, a probe is on by both the police departments to reveal the truth.”
Police in Ghaziabad are focusing on a critical piece of evidence – a cell phone the man allegedly used during his stay in Dehradun while working at the Niranjanpur vegetable market. The number linked to the phone was last traced to Indirapuram in Ghaziabad, but the device itself has yet to be recovered. Investigators believe the phone could hold vital clues about his true identity and movements.